We decided to try a turkey in the new fryer before Thanksgiving so we wouldn’t ruin Thanksgiving if it didn’t work as expected.
Amazing! So easy! Almost no mess. Vince said “Where has this thing been all my life?” I think he was more impressed with this than he has been with any kitchen gadget/appliance we’ve purchased – mainly because he’s the one who does the turkey frying.
Peanut oil is expensive, plus it’s harder and harder to find 100% peanut oil that isn’t a blend. Once done, we usually strain it and pour it back into the container and keep it in the fridge, planning to do another turkey soon . . since the oil was expensive, but often we don’t and the oil gets rancid.
Also, the frying can be messy. The turkey will often cause the oil to splatter, especially if we’ve brined it, even though I’ve used all the towels and paper towels trying to dry it. We have to be careful not to put in too much oil and have it overflow when the turkey goes in, and the overflowing oil cause a fire with the open flame.
We rarely fry a turkey unless we were cooking Thanksgiving for friends and you know how often that happened. I can’t even remember when it happened last.
For yesterday’s turkey experiment, I didn’t brine it. I injected it with Tony Chachere’s Creole Butter Injection, seasoned it up, and stuck it in the basket.
Vince took it from there. I left to go get Addie, told Vince I’d be home about 4:30 and did all the rest.
I came home to this:
Everything about it was good! It was tender and juicy. The skin was spicy and crispy.
Vince had been reading about them and there were people who have been using them for 20 years, some on their second or third cooker. Vince wants to go buy another one as a backup. NO! One is enough for now. We still have three storage units of things we might need some day!
Since I was just walking in the house and the turkey was done, it was Stove Top, a can of corn and canned cranberry sauce. It was a delicious trial run Thanksgiving dinner.
Twyla says
It is certainly a pretty bird.lol. If you say it is moist I may have to have this cooker.
today is our 30th anniversary. We are going to Shreveport to have Thanksgiving with friends.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Vince.
I am thankful for all the info you and Vince give us.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Enjoy your Thanksgiving with friends and Happy Anniversary. I’m thankful for readers who have been with me for so long, I feel like you’re a friend! 🙂
Claudia Duke says
My husband loves his air fryer. We have had it about 7 years. He does turkeys for friends too. Makes such a difference not having to use old.
Judy Domke says
That looks so darn good!!! Guess what the big guy is on his way to town to buy? I can’t wait to try this out! Thanks for helping me spend my money again. LOL Happy Thanksgiving
Katherine says
Instead of Vince buying another fryer, maybe get one for Chad. Then you have 2 in the family which is almost as good and you don’t have to store it.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Chad is happy to come here and eat and let us accumulate all the gadgets. He only has a small storage building, his garage is full and he would NOT be happy if we gave him something that big to store.
Diana G says
Looks so good !!!
Happy Thanksgiving
Sheryl says
…Donnie has been using one for probably 15 years and he loves it. It’s so much easier than traditional frying although he still reverts to that way of cooking. Tony Chachere’s Creole Butter is his favorite for seasoning!
Helen Glover says
I may have missed it but would you tell us the name and model of the oil-less turkey fryer? That turkey looks delicious! Gottta try it. Thanks so much. Happy Thanksgiving!
Donnie C Ingram says
The Big Easy by CharBroil
Linda Garcia says
I know I am a day late and a dollar short on this comment, but here goes. We almost always deep fry our turkeys. Haven’t cooked one in the oven in years. Several years ago, for some odd reason, we decided to prep the turkey the night before instead of waiting to do it the morning we were going to be frying. We put it on the spindle that is used to lower the turkey into the fryer and we put it on a sheet tray and set it in the fridge overnight. The next morning there was some liquid in the sheet try, and I didn’t think much about it. But when we went to put the turkey in the fryer, it hardly splattered at all. And it was still moist and delicious. Now that is standard in our prep sequence. Put it on the spindle and let it set in the fridge overnight before frying. I also used a black magic marker and marked the side of the frying pot so that we know how much oil to put into the fryer. We have this down to a science now. LOL!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I don’t think we’ll ever fry one with oil again. Vince loves the oil-less fryer and it’s healthier and no oil to buy or try to save. We always put our turkey on a rack in an ice chest with the blue ice packs overnight so it would drain. I think they taste so much better if seasoned the day before.
Rebecca says
I was in a conversation about frying turkeys, and one person mentioned chef Williams injectable creole (garlic?) butter…he was a big fan. He told of the first time he fried turkey, doing everything as told, but nobody said anything about how it foams up when you lower the turkey! Fortunately, his patio was slightly sloped to drain the overflow. I told them about you ordering an oil-less fryer, and now I must remember to follow up with the review!